Latest revision as of 14:15, 23 May 2020

Opponents of nuclear energy sometimes claim that it has high carbon emissions. What is the basis of such claims and are they accurate?

The IPCC finds emissions of nuclear energy to be generally amongst the lowest of any energy sources, comparable with those of wind energy and lower than hydro and solar (see e.g. this table of IPCC findings from Wikipedia).

In a rebuttal of the "StormSmith" work, researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute found that Storm van Leeuwen's estimate of the energy consumed by Uranium mining and milling in Namibia was higher than the energy consumption of the entire country.

The image described as "Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, US NREL (Click to enlarge)" can now be found via the: Wayback Machine

The image described as "from “Renewable Energy in the Context of Sustainable Development”, in IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation, Ch. 9" can be found via the: Wayback Machine